this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
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Snowflakes. Groomers. Cucks.

For years the MAGA movement has approached politics the way a bully would approach a schoolyard, sparring with labels so nasty, they seemed expressly chosen to appeal to the kind of people who stuffed nerds in lockers in sixth grade. And for years Democrats, abiding by the mantra to go high, not low, have responded by trying to be the adults in the room: defending themselves with facts, with context, with earnest explanations that nobody remembers (if they defend themselves at all).

The problem is that taking the high road only works if politics is a sport played mainly by people who act like grown-ups, which it is not. And also: Facts and context don’t make for particularly sticky messaging.

Enter: Weird.

Over the past two weeks, as “Brat” and coconut memes have taken over the internet and Kamala Harris inches closer to Donald Trump in the polls, the Democrats have finally gone low, deploying a bit of verbal jujitsu so delightfully petty it might just work.

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[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 216 points 3 months ago (6 children)

i find weird and creepy to be less name calling and more fact pointing

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 78 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] Sidyctism2@discuss.tchncs.de 28 points 3 months ago (5 children)

i love how there are like 10 different kinds of lemmy gold

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Good observation!

Take these!

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[–] Cadeillac@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They are all as valuable as that other gold too!

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[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 62 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Let's keep up the "name calling" facts

Matt Gatez creepily traffics children
Gym Jordan is, at best, a creepy enabler of pedophiles
Mike Johnson weirdly discusses individual porn movies with his children
(I'm not trying to stick to a theme here)
Lauren Boebert seems to weirdly enjoy public indecency

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 24 points 3 months ago

yes! they key is to use factual words that these very simple, emotionally driven people understand.

[–] ptz@dubvee.org 19 points 3 months ago

(I'm not trying to stick to a theme here)

Sometimes a creepy pattern just emerges from the data. :shrug:

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[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

Also way less offensive than what they deserve.

[–] Timii@biglemmowski.win 15 points 3 months ago

For Heaven's sake, someone make this person a Lemmy Mod

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[–] Boozilla@lemmy.world 117 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Back when Michelle Obama said when they go low, we go high--I told my wife "I really wish that worked in American politics, I really do....but it simply doesn't". My wife disagreed. Because my wife is a mature, kind-hearted Democrat. She thinks you can bring an informational brochure to a bar fight.

Maybe there is a way to de-escalate things and return to more civil "statesmanship" style in our politics. But my guess is that these things follow some kind of up-and-down cycle, and you don't want to be on the side that's lagging.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 42 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I saw an article that summarizes people like your wife as those living in a West Wing (TV show) fantasy. I wish we lived in such a world too, but we definitely do not.

I do not mean offense to your wife. I envy people that still have that type of faith.

[–] Boozilla@lemmy.world 22 points 3 months ago (9 children)

No offense taken. She has a hard time seeing how nasty it has become. She limits her exposure to the news, which is mostly a good thing.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's not just one or the other.

You can't ignore it, you can't pick it apart and expect people to listen. Even if they listen, now you're spending all your time explaining.

What you is dismiss them quickly and broadly, then talk about what you would do.

They won't waste time trying to talk policy, so they're reduced to making the same insults and getting the same dismissals.

It makes them look "weak" and the more they fight back the crazier shit they have to make up. It's a feedback loop.

Biden tried to do it, he just couldn't string together enough words. Kamala can, but it's not some master strategy, just the common sense response to the situation

[–] Boozilla@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

Sure, I hear you and what you're saying, and it all makes sense. I think it depends on the time, the place, and the audience. I would say in general there has been a sea change here in the Trump post-truth world. And in general, things are much, much nastier as far as the tone and style goes. Things were very nasty when it came to policy and actual backroom deals back when Reagan took over. But at least the evil old bastard was charming and liked most Americans in his own goofy / phony way. He did pit us against each other but more in the grandpa wants to watch the kids wrestle kind of way compared to Trump's "let's destroy democracy" kind of way.

I also think it's very important that the Democrats continue to be for some things and not just 100% against things like the Republicans are.

[–] Xanis@lemmy.world 20 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Meeting in the middle and taking the high ground has worked a LOT in the past. In about 12 years, though some would argue since 2002, things changed. We can return to a more reasonable time, though I am of the opinion that the modern Republican Party needs to be gutted and replaced before we can do that. They are so far right that they've done a complete circle and have ended up with various heads in far too many asses.

I'm a big picture kind of person and that large magical totally not a portal painting on the wall points to the party being beyond saving.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yeah I think the winning move is “we can discuss the issues as mature adults whenever you choose to. But until then if you’re going to insist on name calling and fascism I’m going to call you the pathetic weirdo you’re being”

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[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago (3 children)

They go low, we kick them in the teeth.

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[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 91 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think it's missing the point. It's not effective for being name-calling. It's just saying what everyone is already thinking. Like in the 2020 debate when Biden said "Will you just shut up, man?" It was relatable because Trump runs his fucking mouth all the time.
This is the same. It's a relatable feeling - Trump is deeply weird and out of touch. Vance is so creepy people didn't even bother to check if he really wrote about fucking a couch.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 3 months ago

Vance is so creepy people didn't even bother to check if he really wrote about fucking a couch.

Nailed it. Pre-Trump era I would have frantically searched for a source. These days my expectations from the Republicans are so unbelievably low.

[–] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 59 points 3 months ago (6 children)

I don't like the implications for future political discourse...

but fuck it, for now it's refreshing to see the reactions of surprise by that camp... Did they think that Dems didn't dunk on them "playground style" cuz they couldn't?

[–] CountVon@sh.itjust.works 51 points 3 months ago (5 children)

All due respect to Michelle Obama otherwise, but I think she was flat out wrong when she said ‘When they go low, we go high’. It's the paradox of tolerance applied to the political realm. How do you ensure a tolerant society in the face of intolerant people? It's impossible if you're not allowed be intolerant of intolerant people. How do you ensure that political discourse sticks to concrete policies and objective facts when your opponent refuses to engage with either but instead stoops to conspiracy theories and personal attacks? Also impossible if you're stuck talking about difficult concepts and nuanced facts while your opponent is free to sling personal insults and cognitively sticky memes that may have absolutely nothing to do with reality.

The solution is to apply social contract theory. Tolerance doesn't have to be a rule that you're not allowed to break. It can be a social contract instead, so when someone breaks the social contract by being intolerant you are no longer bound by the contract, freeing you to not tolerate their behavior in return. Similarly, sticking to policy- and fact-based political debate doesn't have to be a rule you're not allowed to break, it can be a social contract between political opponents. If the other candidate won't debate policy or facts then you're free of the contract, which means you're free to say they're weird. Which they very much fucking are. Once you get most of the figurative children out of the room, you can go back to making actual progress amongst the contract-adhering adults who remain.

[–] jaemo@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 months ago

You are no longer bound by the contract, freeing you to not tolerate their behavior in return.

An important perspective here is also: by not agreeing to the terms of a social contract the other party is, in fact, forfeiting their right to be treated as a signatory to contract, and any implied protection that accompanies it. When I frame it like that it feels less like I have a license to actively be hostile in response to douchebaggery of the right, and more that they have opted to stand in the douchebaggery lineup.

6 in one, half dozen in the other, but I like putting the responsibility on them for a change.

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[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago

Yeah. I think they thought that. The bully doesn’t think the victim can fight back. Or maybe they just think they never will. But someday the victim does

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[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 42 points 3 months ago (8 children)

Future Presidential debates:

"Shut up you lying little bitch"

"Come make me, fuckface!"

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[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 38 points 3 months ago (1 children)

...deploying a bit of verbal jujitsu so delightfully petty it might just work

It's not even petty. It's just true. Republicans, with their obsessions over what's going on in everyone's pants and bedrooms, really are weird and creepy.

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[–] 5in1k@lemm.ee 31 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I was annoyed at that “when they go low, we go high” rhetoric. No you kick them in the teeth. Politics is a pig wrestling competition and you gotta get dirty.

[–] Deralax@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Don't let Shady Vance go near your couch cushions.

[–] Makeitstop@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (3 children)

You mean JD Vance, the man who wrote Wet Goddess: Recollections of a Dolphin Lover under the pen name Malcolm Brenner?

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[–] DogPeePoo@lemm.ee 26 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Republicans are disgusting

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[–] rustyfish@lemmy.world 22 points 3 months ago (2 children)

So, this guy said he wants to bang his daughter back in 2016 and it took you 8 years to settle with “weird”.

Woah, slow down there cowboy!

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

We called him out on it then. But man, this weirdo just took it in stride like being called a fascist by everyone from historians to neo nazis. But weird, he doesn’t like it when we acknowledge he’s weird.

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[–] scottywh@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago (1 children)

My only issue with using weird to refer to them is how much I love Weird Al Yankovic...

Fuck it tho.. if weird works to get under the skin of fascistsI don't think it'll hurt AL in the slightest.

[–] bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml 21 points 3 months ago

There's good weird and bad weird.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

Trump is shit. Vance is stupid. Match made in hell. Wierd just aint cuttin it, comrades

[–] NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago

They’re both weird and creepy in their own ways. The GOP is like a Petri dish that someone smeared rabid monkey shit on, and we’re all watching it fester and mutate.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 17 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Bout damn time we give up this "We go high" bullshit

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[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

The primary difference being that the Dems are backing up the name calling with actual policies or things they've done.

Trump is weird bc he constantly says off the wall things, does weird shit, and supports unpopular policies (which are weird).

Vance is creepy because he believes and says super weird shit about women. Like how he believes women have to have kids to have value - that is creepy. If somebody said that on a date, there would not be another date. And how he nevertheless has no problem with childless couches - pretty hypocritical and creepy.

And from the repub side:

Schumer is a "member of Hamas" because.... it is inflamatory

Kamala is "laughing kamala" because.... she laughs sometimes. She is also a "radical democrat socialist" because.... she supports mainstream, popular, dem policies

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